Household unpaid work by immigration status in Canada

Abstract

This thesis looks at the ‘immigration status differentials’ in time allocation to household work, value of household work, and determinants of participation rate in household work. In determining the time allocated to household work by immigration status, the data provided by General Social Survey (GSS) Circle 12 Individual Information Survey, on time spent on household work in Canada 1998 with about 6,944 respondents was used. Two methods of valuation of household unpaid work were used which were opportunity cost (before and after tax) and replacement cost. In deciding which method is best I recommend the use of replacement cost of valuing household work since GNP itself measures actual output produced. In the study, I anticipated that an average immigrant spends more time in household work than an average Canadian and that an average female generally allocates more time to household work than an average male based on socio-economic factors determining household unpaid work as seen in Gronau (1977) and Becker (1965). As expected, the results show that an average female allocates more time to household work than an average male and the difference is statistically significant. An average immigrant and Canadian allocate the same amount of time to household work. However, in maintenance and repairs, the results show that males’ participation rate is higher than females’ and an average Canadian participation rate in maintenance and repairs is higher than the immigrant with statistically significant difference. When other variables were introduced into the model using probit method of estimation, it was observed that there is no significant difference in participation rates between Canadians and immigrants.